Dear sir- I received this morning your
favor of the instant, and lose no time in making a reply. The whole story about my having pronounced the Mormonite inscription
to be "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics" is perfectly false. Some years ago, a plain, and apparently simple-hearted farmer,
called upon me with a note from Dr. [Samuel L.] Mitchell of our city, now deceased, requesting me to decypher, if possible,
a paper, which the farmer would hand me, and which Dr. Mitchell confessed he had been unable to understand. Upon examining
the paper in question, I soon came to the conclusion that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax. When I asked the person, who
brought it, how he obtained the writing, he gave me, as far as I can now recollect, the following account: a "gold book,"
consisting of a number of plates of gold, fastened together in the shape of a book by wires of the same metal, had been dug
up in the northern part of the state of New York, and along with the book an enormous pair of "gold spectacles"! These spectacles
were so large, that, if a person attempted to look through them, his two eyes would have to be turned towards one of the glasses
merely, the spectacles in question being altogether too large for the breadth of the human face. Whoever examined the plates
through the spectacles, was enabled not only to read them, but fully to understand their meaning. All this knowledge, however,
was confined at that time to a young man, who had the trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole possession. This
young man was placed behind a curtain, in the garret of a farm house, and, being thus concealed from view, put on the spectacles
occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, decyphered the characters in the book, and, having committed some
of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain, to those who stood on the outside. Not a word, however, was said
about the plates having been decyphered "by the gift of God." Every thing, in this way, was effected by the large pair of
spectacles. The farmer added, that he had been requested to contribute a sum of money towards the publication of the "golden
book," the contents of which would, as he had been assured, produce an entire change in the world and save it from ruin. So
urgent had been these solicitations, that he intended selling his farm and handing over the amount received to those who wished
to publish the plates. As a last precautionary step, however, he had resolved to come to New York, and obtain the opinion
of the learned about the meaning of the paper which he brought with him, and which had been given him as a part of the contents
of the book, although no translation had been furnished at the time by the young man with the spectacles. On hearing this
odd story, I changed my opinion about the paper, and, instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax upon the learned, I began
to regard it as part of a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money, and I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him to
beware of rogues. He requested an opinion from me in writing, which of course I declined giving, and he then took his leave
carrying the paper with him. This paper was in fact a singular scrawl. It consisted of all kinds of crooked characters disposed
in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets.
Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, whose scribe had arranged them
in perpendicular columns, and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle divided into various compartments, decked
with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as
not to betray the source whence it was derived. I am thus particular as to the contents of the paper, inasmuch as I have frequently
conversed with my friends on the subject, since the Mormonite excitement began, and well remember that the paper contained
any thing else but "Egyptian Hieroglyphics." Some time after, the same farmer paid me a second visit. He brought with him
the golden book in print, and offered it to me for sale. I declined purchasing. He then asked permission to leave the book
with me for examination. I declined receiving it, although his manner was strangely urgent. I adverted him once more to the
roguery which had been in my opinion practised upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold plates. He informed me
that they were in a trunk with the large pair of spectacles. I advised him to go to a magistrate and have the trunk examined.
He said the "curse of God" would come upon him should he do this. On my pressing him, however, to pursue the course with I
had recommended, he told me that he would open the trunk, if I would take the "curse of God" upon myself. I replied that I
would do so with the greatest willingess, and would incur every risk of that nature, provided I could only extricate him from
the grasp of rogues. He then let me.

I have thus given you a full statement
of all that I know respecting the origin of Mormonism, and must beg you, as a personal favor, to publish this letter immediately,
should you find my name mentioned again by these wretched fanatics.